Ratings casualty
BBC News: TV host seriously hurt in crash
Top Gear has been a runaway success for the BBC in its recent incarnation, with its mix of irreverent humour and factual presentation appealing to a much wider audience than traditional motoring programmes have done in the past; it's now a very long away from the days of William Woollard telling us just how practical the Ford Cortina is for the average family.
However this success - crucially including the very important young male demographic that the BBC needs to attract in order to justify the licence fee - comes with a requirement to keep Top Gear fresh and attractive for this demanding audience, hence the need to continually come up with new ideas and wackier stunts to prevent viewers from switching channels.
But of course the more spectacular the stunt, the risk of it going badly wrong increases exponentially, therefore it was perhaps (and sadly) inevitable that a high profile presenter should one day become seriously hurt as a result. It's obvious that there will be a full investigation and various anti-BBC news sources will castigate the BBC and/or the show's producers.
Personally I blame the lack of regulation in the commercial UK TV marketplace combined with a relative lack of support within some political circles for the BBC's licence fee-driven model, hence BBC productions inevitably having to directly compete with commercial offerings as well as nearly having to stoop down to their level in order to do so.
Get well soon, Richard.
